11.22.63

[stainesmassif]

Its big isn't it? I've got it from the library for 1 week. Will it be long enough?? Is it unputdownable?

I too think this is one of his best, read it in less than a week, I really felt I was living in the 1950's, felt 'part' of the story. Don't forget to give "Stand by me" a try, although you've probably seen the film. I love the way that he brings his other stories into the plot eg the clown in the sewer was from "It". But, unless you want nasty gore, avoid "Cell". Scared the living daylights out of me, I couldn't finish it!

Pet Sematary is TERRIFYING.

Would recommend The Long Walk, think its under Richard Bachman, one of his very early stories.

Cell was rubbish. I was too busy marvelling at how rubbish it was to find it scary. Gerald's Game was also terrible.

My favourite Stephen King books are The Stand, The Eye of The Dragon, The Shining, Misery and Carrie.

And Firestarter. I loved that one. Stand by me came from a collection of novellas called Different Seasons - also including the Shawshank Redemption - much better than the film.

Isn't the short story that Stand By Me is based on called The Body? Or something like that?

Thanks for the advice about which ones won't scare me. feel a bit of a wimp now I'll have a browse as there seem to be a good few to choose from.

Oh I saw this book yesterday, will buy it soon.
Yep, Stand By Me is actually "The Body" which is one of 4 in a book called "Different Seasons" iirc.
I enjoyed The Cell, scared me to death and had trouble using a mobile for ages... Now I'm just crap at typing on an iPhone

I hated 'Cell' on first reading and liked it better when I re-read it this year - but it doesn't really do anything that 'The Stand' hadn't already done standing on its head with its hands tied behind its back and its eyes closed. I don't really see why he bothered writing 'Cell' tbh.

Under The Dome is okay. It has lots of interesting characters (and lots and lots and lots of them die!) but I didn't much like the big revelation about what the dome was for, or the resolution to the revelation (trying hard not to accidentally drop spoilers in there!).

If anybody us wanting to buy 11.22.63 I saw the hardback version in The Works for a fiver yesterday.

I wish they'd reduce this book on Kindle. I'm dying to read it cos of this thread.

I didn't mind the cell because I think I'd adjusted my King expectations when I read it. It really doesn't help when you've read all his best at your most impressionable ages (teens to twenties for me). In spite of this, I do think he's regaining his magic. 11.22.1963 has stayed with me for the last couple of days and I managed it in about 5 days- I haven't really read in the last couple of years, kids, sleep etc.

Well done OP for reading it in your week deadline.

I think King's at his best when he's writing more about people than monsters (though arguably there are always crossovers)

My favourites are IT and Christine, though I also love The Green Mile, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon and Bag of Bones. I really disliked The Tommyknockers, Cell, The Regulators (though I always think the blurb makes it sound amazing) etc - I think I just don't "get" the more sci fi ones.

I find that I either really love or really hate his books. I've avoided 11.22.63 up to now because I don't want to dislike it, it's sitting on my kindle waiting. Maybe I should start it.

I really like The Regulators, though it sounds like the sort of thing I'd hate. I like the fact that the cop who is the 'baddie' in Desperation is just a neighbourly guy in The Regulators. And I like the bit with the twins.

I agree, Remus - I really liked the Regulators/Desperation pair and what he did with those books, and I thought both were seriously scary.

Misty I think King is just not very good at sci-fi.

But 'The Langoliers' (sp?) is sci-fi-esque and is brilliant. One of my very favourite King short stories.

Has anyone mentioned Lisey's Story? I hated that so much I nearly didn't read 11.22.63, but am now glad I did. Oh, and if you read the afterword of 11.22.63, King thanks someone else for the ending.....

Exception that proves the rule, Remus? I too love The Langoliers.

LineRunner I really liked Lisey's story, not an easy read by any means but he veers into Clive Barker territory very well and the way he describes the family madness is pure genius.

All of which goes to prove that King is just difficult to pin down and different people like different things about his writing. A lot of people don't like Duma Key - I think it's one of his absolute best, to the point where I reread it every year.

Duma Key has some great bits (love the old lady and the geezer on the beach who looks after her and whose name I've forgotten) and some stupid bits (I hate the daughters, for example). Overall, it's not one of his best by a long way imho. And in some ways the land beyond the old lady's house reminds me of the strange world of that weird animal thing in Lisey's Story - I find myself wondering if they are actually the same place.

Lisey's Story - I enjoyed lots of it, mostly the bits about Lisey and her husband. The bit when she's running to him when he's been shot (have I remembered that right?) is really good. And the tin opener bit is one of the most horrible King-violence moments I can think of. But the strange animal stuff (can't remember what he refers to it as) left me cold.

Lisey's story I thought was brilliant for the character story itself - and again, that fits into where King is at his best for me - telling a people's story, their history - but the "other world" (despite it being the real backbone of the story) was the bit that made me a bit...meh.

The blurb for Duma Key has really made me want to read it - but once again it's been the fact that it's a modern King that has made me keep my distance. I read 'Under the Dome' purely because of its length and the fact that there's a teen-centric line, because I was desperate for another 'IT'. It didn't really go anywhere for me, though, just kind of ambled along to the point where it seemed like nothing really happened. Dome goes up, dome comes down.

The thing I like about Duma Key is the way King describes recovery from head trauma - obviously from personal experience. It's something that's close to my heart and he does it so very well. The daughters are a pain - Ilse is essential but the other one is definitely not - but the way King intertwines dementia and real evil/ghosts is just genius (dementia also close to my heart).

King has a thing about weird animals - I cite 'The Mist' as evidence but there are instances of it in the Dark Tower series too. I also like the way his evil uses children's own minds and fears against them (as in the things from the drawings coming alive) - he really understands what children specifically are frightened of.

Has anyone been reading this series in the Guardian? Very insightful and clearly from a fan, I'm really enjoying it.

Yes - the big monster in the tunnels that chases Roland and Susannah is the same sort of idea as the one in Lisey's Story as well. The problem with them all is that they are supposedly hideous beyond comprehension, so impossible to describe in any meaningful way, and thus described inadequately as pretty much 'something big and indescribable' etc.

Good point, Remus - there's leaving room for the reader's imagination, and then there's leaving the reader to do all the work. His slimy pterodactyl in 'The Mist' is much scarier, as are the horrible creatures with the suction cup - because you get a description you can hang your imagination on.

epees - just read the king articles - v enjoyable. And now I find myself wanting to a) buy a kindle and b) download his entire back catalogue and read it all chronologically. With the exception of The Tommyknockers, am fairly sure that's still utter shite.

I LOVE the TommyKnockers, and Needful Things! I like it when he does "whole town goes weird" books - Salems Lot in this too, and shadows of it in Pet Sematary - and his little vignettes of different people losing it are just genius.

I'm trying to remember where I read a short story of his about a woman who regularly drives long distances and her driving times get shorter and shorter until she is doing her journey in an hour or so and arriving covered in scratches and raving about strange animals. I reckon she's driving through the place in Liseys Story and Duma Key (but this is an old short story). It also had a story about teleportation and how they put you to sleep before they do it, and one boy who somehow slips through not asleep and comes out the other end just an instant later, but to him it's been a million years and he's gone mad. I love love love King, doing a bit of a reread of his at the moment. Bag of Bones next.